


He who tholes

by LostCauses (Anteros)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M, eruri - Freeform, snk 102
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-10
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-03-16 03:09:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13627332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anteros/pseuds/LostCauses
Summary: He sees them grow, sees them change, shrugging off the last vestiges of childhood. Some grow together, some apart.Everything changes.  Everything but Levi.Drabble inspired by chapter 102.





	He who tholes

**Author's Note:**

> **“He who tholes, overcomes.”**
> 
> Scottish proverb. Verb: thole; endure without complaint or resistance; tolerate.

He sees them grow, sees them change, shrugging off the last vestiges of childhood. Some grow together, some apart.

Everything changes.

A whole world opens up around them and their walled world contracts, shrinks smaller and smaller in the face of a vast enemy that makes the mindless terror of the titans seem like a faded childish nightmare.

But at the same time, there are endless possibilities they could never have dreamed of - technology, discovery, advancement. Some even whisper freedom.

Everything changes.

Everything but Levi. Nothing changes for Levi. Not since _that_ day. Everything stopped that day, four years ago, on the rooftop in Shiganshina.

So Levi waits. He endures. Sticking stubbornly to the old ways. His own ways. _His_ ways.

He keeps his old gear, maintains it carefully himself. He grudgingly lets Hanji make a few modifications, but essentially it’s the same gear he and Farlan stole from the MPs in the Underground a lifetime ago.

He keeps his gear, he keeps his blades, he keeps his cloak, ( _his_ cloak), and he keeps his promise.

The only thing tethering Levi to the changing world is his vow, his certainty. 

_He promised him_

There’s one other thing that hasn’t changed. It’s still hell. There are still too many people, too many children, dying too many unnecessary deaths. It strengthens his resolve. He has no regrets. All the wonders of the world would not have been worth dragging Erwin back to this hell. 

Levi has had enough of unnecessary deaths.

“Don’t die. Survive.” 

One more death and then he’s done. 


End file.
